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# cartilage

«cartilage» in Mova's school dictionary: **a strong, bendy material in the body, softer than bone…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (cartilage, uncountable; a cartilage, cartilages)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Cartilage is a strong, bendy material in the body, softer than bone, found in the ears, the end of the nose and between bones in joints. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cartilage/#m1)

2) A cartilage is a piece of this material, especially in the knee. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cartilage/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons about the skeleton, cartilage covers the ends of bones at joints so they move smoothly without rubbing; babies' skeletons have more cartilage, which hardens into bone as they grow. Sharks have skeletons made of cartilage, not bone. Phrases: torn cartilage, knee cartilage, cartilage in the ear.

### examples

- Feel your ear: it bends because it is made of cartilage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cartilage/#x1)
- Cartilage protects the ends of bones in your joints. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cartilage/#x2)
- Sharks have skeletons made of cartilage, not bone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cartilage/#x3)
- The footballer tore a cartilage in his knee. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cartilage/#x4)
- The tip of your nose is cartilage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cartilage/#x5)
- A baby's bones have lots of cartilage that turns into bone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cartilage/#x6)

### note

Mostly uncountable. Pronounced "KAR-ti-lij". Adjective: cartilaginous (sharks and rays are cartilaginous fish). Cartilage is not the same as a ligament (holds bones together) or a tendon (joins muscle to bone).

### In the corpora

- [A shark's skeleton is made of cartilage, which is lighter and bendier than bone, so shark fossils are mostly teeth.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/28-sharks/6/)
- [Smooth cartilage and a slippery fluid let the ends of bones glide in a joint.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/64-cells-bones-and-muscles/14/)
- [A shark's skeleton is made of cartilage, the bendy material in our ears and nose, not bone.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/74-fish-frogs-reptiles/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «cartilage» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cartilage/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.